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Monday, 28 July 2014

"Quite simply an absorbing read"

The June issue of the English Historical Review contains a very fine review of The Most Remarkable Woman in England which is all the more enjoyable because it was written by Adrian Bingham,
who is not only one of the leading historians of the twentieth-century
British press but also someone whose own work influenced my approach to some
of the topics in my book on the Pace murder trial.

I'm
particularly pleased by the review as it is attentive to a difficult
problem with which I wrestled throughout the more than five years I
spent researching and writing the book: how to combine an exciting story
that would appeal to as broad an audience as possible (essentially anyone
who is interested in real-life human drama and not overly averse to
endnotes) while also maintaining enough academic street cred for my
professional historian peers to still take it seriously.

Or, as Bingham puts it in his review:

What
is the best way for academic historians to broaden their audience? How
should they reach out to the much-sought-after ‘general reader’? One
option (the Niall Ferguson or Simon Schama route) is to produce bold
grand narratives and dazzle the public with new ways of looking at the
‘big picture’. An alternative, pursued here by John Carter Wood, is to
narrow the scale, and to focus upon a dramatic human story, which can
then be used to illuminate the period in question.

Happily, he finds that I have succeeded in this effort:

The
spectacular success of Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
(2009), based on a murder mystery that unfolded in Wiltshire in 1860,
seems to have created a demand for real-life historical detective
stories, and Wood has produced a pacy, scholarly and thought-provoking contribution to the genre. ...

Although this book is clearly designed to appeal beyond the academy, it will be of interest to scholars.... Firstly,
it is quite simply an absorbing read. The case itself is a fascinating
one, and Wood does it full justice. He writes crisply and vividly, and
shows a real empathy for his protagonists, teasing out the likely
motivations for their actions.... He has clearly learned well from the
crime novelists, such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, who so
entertained the British public in the 1920s.

At
the end, Bingham raises a potential problem that was always on my mind
(and which plagued my efforts to publish the book until I made contact
with the wonderful people at Manchester University Press):

There
is a danger that books like this may fall between two stools. Wood is
far more measured in his approach than a writer such as Summerscale, and
he is too scrupulous a historian to let his imagination take him
further than the evidence allows in order to entertain the reader. At
the same time, some of those working in the field would undoubtedly have
been interested in seeing some of the underlying themes developed
further.

However, there's a very happy ending:

On its own terms, though, as a forensic historical examination of one of the decade’s most intriguing murder cases, this is an undoubted success. I hope it gets the wider readership it deserves.

'A fascinating analysis of one woman's domestic disaster, the power of the press and public opinion. Loved it!' -- Jenni Murray, host of BBC Radio 4's "Woman's Hour"

'Sometimes life is better than fiction.' -- Tessa Hadley, in The Guardian

'Just for once, my crime book of the year isn’t a novel, but a factual account. ... A fascinating snapshot of interwar England, brilliantly brought to life.' -- Nicola Upson, Faber website

'I know that this book worked in a narrative sense because for most of the time I was reading it I felt a prickling at the back of my neck that I only get from a good crime book, whether true or fictional.' -- Kate Gardner, Nose in a Book

'...[A]n engaging and suggestive analysis of the relationship between crime, culture, and politics in a formative historical period.... [I]t is hard to imagine a more thorough account of the processes through which crime became news.' -- Matthew Houlbrook, Media History.

'This book will be an invaluable aid to those interested in the history of criminal justice and British society in the 1920s.' -- June Purvis, in the Times Higher Education

'A vivid portrayal not just of one woman's fate, but of a society in transition. Highly recommended!' -- Andrew Hammel, Amazon.co.uk review

Welcome!

Find The Most Remarkable Woman in England on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaceCase

**

In May 1928, Beatrice Pace, the widow of a Forest of Dean quarryman and shepherd, was charged with her husband's arsenic murder. Her trial in Gloucester in July that year was one of the greatest legal sensations in early twentieth-century Britain, generating almost endless newspaper coverage and heated political debates about the state of the British justice system.

On this blog, I will be posting updates about my forthcoming book, The Most Remarkable Woman in England: Poison, Celebrity and the Trials of Beatrice Pace (Manchester University Press), the first book to deal comprehensively with what was known as the ‘Fetter Hill Mystery’ and the trial to which it led.

So, if you’re interested in real-life mysteries, the histories of the British police and criminal justice system or the culture of the 1920s, you’ve come to the right place!

Here, I’ll also present details about my research, give additional facts about the case and provide background material about crime, policing, justice and celebrity culture in the inter-war period.

This is also an opportunity for readers (or potential readers) to ask questions and comments about the case and my take on it. More information is available on the blog to the left or on the pages listed above.

If you have questions about the book or related issues, please feel free to contact me at jcarterwood@yahoo.com